


in the wild (thrive out here)

by michpat6



Series: aftermath [18]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, fi is an officially tagged character from now on lets gooooooooooo, fluff fluff fluff fluff FLUFF, master cycle time baby, nothing really happens? they're just traveling and its cute, we all deserve a break from the angst that's about to slap us in the face, zelda is chaotic when it comes to sheikah technology and we love her for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29142348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michpat6/pseuds/michpat6
Summary: She doesn’t know it’s time for her to meet the Master Cycle, which will cut the already short time it takes to get to the Domain on horseback in half.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: aftermath [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033743
Comments: 8
Kudos: 82





	in the wild (thrive out here)

The Master Sword likes to talk.

_The Surface is so different. Did you know there used to be a village here ten thousand years ago? There was a 53% chance the Calamity would wipe it out, and a 46% chance it would leave ruins behind._

The Master Sword likes to talk a _lot_.

It wouldn’t bother Link if it would just...let him _think_ on his own. Every single thought he has or sentence he speaks garners some form of response or statistic about odds, and he thinks he’s going to lose his mind.

“Is everything all right?” Zelda asks, stroking Storm Junior’s nose as he nudges their bag of “stuff” that hangs off her shoulder, hunting for apples.

They’re waiting for the owner of the Dueling Peaks Stable to come and board her horse, and the Master Sword has taken to filling the lull in their journey to Zora’s Domain.

(Zelda keeps asking him _why_ they aren’t taking the horses, telling him over and over that it’ll take them at least four days to get to the Domain on foot.)

“Fine,” Link answers. “The sword is chatty.”

“What is it saying?”

“There was a village here ten thousand years ago. It was likely the Calamity would destroy it, and not likely there would be ruins.”

(She doesn’t know it’s time for her to meet the Master Cycle, which will cut the already short time it takes to get to the Domain on horseback in half.)

The stable owner meanders out, taking Storm Junior away with a smile and a wave, and Zelda turns to Link. “Ready to hike?”

“We’re not walking,” he tells her.

She frowns. “What do you mean?”

“We’re not walking,” he repeats, unable to stop a smile from spreading across his face.

“But we’re not taking horses.”

“Correct.”

“Are...” her eyes drop to where the paraglider sits on his belt. “Are you teaching me to paraglide?”

“No.”

“The Sheikah Slate can only teleport one of us until I figure out how to up the limit, so we’re not doing that.”

“Correct.”

“Then how are we not walking?”

Link grins. _Thank Hylia she hasn’t found it on her own._ “Have you taken a look at the runes?”

Zelda blinks. “No. There was no reason for me to.”

“Well, we’re going to use one of them.”

She pulls the slate off her hip and turns it on. “Which one?”

He sidles up next to her and scrolls to the Master Cycle rune. “This one.”

“The…horse rune?”

He taps it. “Even better.”

The Master Cycle materializes before them, and Link watches Zelda’s eyes light up as she gasps.

“What is _that_?” she asks, practically vibrating next to him as she takes in the sight of the Sheikah vehicle.

“It’s called the Master Cycle Zero,” he explains. “It’s a horse on wheels, powered by Guardian parts. Take a-”

She shoves the slate into his arms and descends upon the mechanical horse before he can even think of saying _look_.

“The mere _implications_ of something like this,” she starts, inspecting it from every possible angle, dropping to her knees and peering into the engine. “What it tells us about the past and the technology the Sheikah created to help combat the Calamity, _Goddesses_ -“

That’s when she starts saying words that mean nothing to him, rambling about “core processing” and “fuel tank exchange” and, “Does Purah know about this? Did she tell you about the conversion of Guardian essence into energy and how it gets expelled into the air?”

“She tried,” he admits, putting the slate on his hip. “I didn’t get it.”

“That’s okay,” she looks up at him, eyes wild, fully in Research Mode. “How does it turn on?”

He takes his shield off his back, mounts it, and tells her, “Don’t put your face so close.”

She backs up about a centimeter.

Link starts the engine, revving it, and Zelda startles as the back wheel spins and kicks up some dirt, laughing.

“That’s _amazing_!” she cheers. “Do it again!”

He does and she gets to her feet, racing over to the handlebars.

“Here,” he grabs her hand, placing it on the right one. “This one makes it go, the other one is just to hold on to. This-“ he guides her thumb to the tab just under the right handlebar. “-is the brake.”

Biting her lip, Zelda meets his eyes. “Can we start riding it?”

“Of course,” he grins again, scooting up on the seat and handing her his shield. “Sit behind me. You can drive after you get the hang of sitting on it.”

She returns his grin with one of her own, puts his shield on her back, and sits behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle.

“Ready?” he asks, turning them towards the Dueling Peaks. “It’s fast.”

“Yes,” she nods against his shoulder, feeling her thighs move against his hips as she places her feet on the footrests that stick out from the back of the bike.

Link revs the engine one more time before they’re off, racing down the trail towards Hyrule Field.

Zelda whoops, laughing, holding tightly onto him as the wind whips in their faces.

_This Zelda has always been eager about technology,_ The Master Sword remarks. _There is an 80% chance she will want to take the Master Cycle Zero apart and put it back together._

Link tries to ignore the voice echoing in his brain and focus on Zelda’s excited laughter or the purring of the Master Cycle’s engine under his touch, but it’s hard when the voice blocks out every other sound.

_I can try whispering if you’d like,_ The voice continues. _Though the Hero of Wind told me I’m not very good at it when we were exploring the Earth Temple._

(Is…Is his sword making a _joke_?)

_No, Master, but thank you for finding me funny._

(Yes, he’s _definitely_ going to lose his mind.)

_There is a 5% chance you will ever go insane, Master. Your mental wellbeing is nothing to worry about._

Gritting his teeth, Link pushes the Master Cycle faster, trying his best to drown out the voice in his head.

They zoom out of the shadow of the Dueling Peaks, passing over the rickety, wooden bridge, Lake Hylia on their left, when Zelda yells in his ear, “ _Can I drive now_?!”

“Not yet!” he yells back. “I still don’t trust Hyrule Field! We’ll make a pit stop at Wetland Stable to refuel and you can take us the rest of the way!”

“ _Okay_!”

He does his best to avoid getting the castle within her line of sight, pointing out landmarks and different things he noticed along his journey that keep her eyes away from her prison, and it works. Zelda is enraptured by his stories, asking him question after question about everything he tells her and the shrines and the towers, and before he knows it he’s slowing to a stop before Wetland Stable, dismounting the Master Cycle and helping her off.

“Where do the Guardian parts go?” she asks, reaching into their bag of “stuff” and pulling out a handful of ancient screws. “In the back?”

She gets close enough, and when the seat opens her jaw drops.

“Right in there,” Link answers. “Just drop them and the cycle will do the rest.”

_There is now a 95% chance this Zelda will want to take the Master Cycle Zero apart and put it back together,_ The Master Sword informs him.

He misses whatever Zelda says when the ancient screws disappear into the fuel tank and the seat closes.

“Give me my shield back and get on,” he tells her. “I’ll sit once you’re settled.”

He takes his shield from her and watches as she mounts it. She puts her hands on the handlebars and laughs a little when the engine comes to life.

_There is now a 100% chance this Zelda will want to take the Master Cycle Zero apart and put it back together._

(‘This Zelda’, what does that even _mean_? There’s only one Zelda right now, _his_ Zelda, so why can’t the Master Sword just call her ‘Zelda’?)

_My apologies, Master. Would you like me to refer to this Zelda as simply ‘Zelda’ from now on?_

Goddesses, he _hates_ that it can read his mind.

(Because if Zelda is just ‘this Zelda’, what stops him from just being ‘this Link’? What stops him from being an anecdote that the sword throws out to remind a Hero down the line to be grateful that they didn’t fail like he did?)

“Link?” Zelda asks, frowning at the left handlebar.

“Yeah?” he focuses back on her.

“What does this button-“

The Master Cycle hops into the air. Zelda shrieks, lifting off of the seat as it falls, gripping the handlebars with white knuckles. The cycle slams back into the ground and Zelda topples off of it into the grass, gasping for breath.

(Looks like she found the Zero Jump.)

“Zelda!” Link is frantic as he helps her to her feet, checking her for injury. “Are you okay?!”

She’s still gasping, and Link is half-convinced she’s crying from broken ribs until she throws her head back and he sees her huge smile.

(He’s never seen her laugh so hard she stops making noise altogether.)

“You’re okay?” he asks.

“Yes!” she manages. “Why didn’t you _tell me_ it could do that before I landed flat on my face?”

“I didn’t think you’d try it without letting me answer you!”

She’s just giggling, now, hiding her face on his shoulder as she attempts to catch her breath, and Link can’t help but laugh with her, relieved that she’s all right.

(He hopes the Master Sword, if it ever does tell the next Hero a story about him, tells them about Zelda’s laugh. It never fails to make him smile, and he knows from experience that joy is scarce when you’re trying to save the world.)

**Author's Note:**

> there's a pretty poggers blizzard outside of my house right now and a character very close to my heart died in attack on titan last night so I decided to cheer myself up with some zelink fluff enjoy


End file.
